Homeless: Streets of Santa Barbara by Lulublue

I'm Still On the Tax Thing

Sunday October 5, 2008

Sarah Palin, when refusing to answer a question during the October 2, 2008 VP debate about John McCain and deregulation, replied, “I’m still on the tax thing.” So I thought I would do some fact-checking on both candidates to see who was speaking more of the truth.

First, Biden’s claim that McCain’s tax plan completely ignores the middle-class is incorrect. While McCain’s plan does favor the wealthy, it does have some facets that would help some of the middle-class.

Palin lied: Obama never voted to increase taxes on working families making as little as $42,000 per year. Biden’s reply that McCain voted the same way on the same issue was also a lie.

But in all my tax lie vs. truth sleuthing I came across something that frankly, I am surprised has not been more talked about: in addition to the wealthy, McCain’s plan also favors married people with children over all others – including single parents with children.

One thing I find downright unfair about McCain’s plan is the preferential treatment given to married couples. Under his plan, married couples (filing jointly) would receive an immediate exemption of $7,000 per child, as well as for themselves and their spouses. Single parents will not get this benefit.

Under McCain’s plan, if you are single and have children, you get the current $3,500 per child exemption now; $4,000 per child in 2010, and then in each subsequent year the exemption would increase by $500 until 2016 when it finally reached the $7,000 per child mark that married couples would get immediately.

His plan would mean unmarried couples, including heterosexual and gays that have children, would not benefit the same way married couples would.

For a married couple with two children, this would mean $98,000 in exemptions for their two children for the tax years 2009-2015.

McCain’s plan would only offer a single parent $70,000 in exemptions for the same number of children for the same time period, or $28,000 less in tax benefits – nearly 1/3 less than married folks would be given.

Eight in ten single parent households are headed by women. Women not only earn less than men, they also have higher expenses in health care, housing, and bear the majority of raising their children in this country. Women were targeted with subprime and predatory mortgages 30-40% more than men, and frankly, need the exemption for children more than married couples – especially when more than half of all states have now relaxed laws or discontinued funding “dead beat dad” (and mom) support services and remedies.

Single parents deserve a break. So, can anyone tell me why the disparity in tax benefits favor married couples? Is this some “secret baby plan” to encourage more people to wed, or to exclude gay parents from access to full exemption for their children? Or, is there some other rational explanation, like, say … well, one eludes me just now…

Guess my mind is still on the tax thing.

"Troubling Phone Polls

A Caucus reader in Florida tells us that she too was called by a research firm that has been telephoning other Jewish voters and delivering negative information about Senator Barack Obama.

After readers reported to various Web sites — including Politico , The New Republic, and Talking Points Memo — that they had received offensive calls, Politico reported that the poll was sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition, which is working on behalf of Senator John McCain.

Matt Brooks, executive director of the coalition, told Politico that the firm was trying to “understand why Barack Obama continues to have a problem among Jewish voters.”

Our reader, who is a 60-year-old Jewish woman and lives in Orlando, said she was furious about the call, which she received Sunday about 5 p.m. She said that the questions included being told things like Mr. Obama had a long relationship with pro-Palestinian leaders and that the church he attended had an anti-Israel slant (The New Republic lists the questions since its writer was on his computer at the time he received the call).

Our reader she said that while the questions angered her, she answered them because she was “curious to see where they were going.” At the end, she said she told the young-sounding woman who was asking the questions that she should be “ashamed of herself.” She said the woman agreed.

The calls were made by Central Research, based in New York. A recording on the company’s answering machine says: “This is Central Research. We are a political polling company.” She then leaves instructions for callers who want to be put on a do-not-call list.

from NY Times, The Caucus

Anybody else getting these kinds of calls? I only get ones about oil companies planning to build 'ready made' cities near Santa Maria, north of here.